MINISTERS HAVE CEASED TO BE MPS
…they have been stolen from people, no
longer represent them – Hamududu
By Fanny Kalonda(The Mast)
YOU can be replaced without postponing an election so this one just requires cleaning up, says Party of National Unity and Progress president Highvie Hamududu.
And Hamududu notes that if you are elected MP for Chama or Kaputa and you are appointed minister, “technically you cease to be an MP because you no longer represent [them]. So they have been stolen from the people to become ministers because when they were voted they were not voted to come here and become ministers. They were voted to be MPs”.
He explained that article 52 of the Constitution requires cleaning as it is a dangerous and potentially costly provision.
“This talk which is partisan must stop. Let’s look at the issues. Have we become a failed country that cannot agree on anything even something like this,” he wondered.
Featuring on Prime TV’s Oxygen of Democracy on Monday, Hamududu said the article can create an outstretched postponement of an election and constitutional crisis for the country.
“The political contestation for power poisons the arena for the Constitution making process, which is not correct. Article 52 clause six, let me just read it, ‘where a candidate dies, resigns or becomes disqualified in article 70, 100 or 153, a court disqualifies a candidate for corruption or malpractice after the close of nominations and before the election date, the electoral commission shall cancel the election and require the filing of fresh nominations by eligible candidates and elections shall be held within 30 days of filing of fresh nominations’,” he said. “This can create an overstretched postponement. It’s possible. So one candidate dies or is found to be corrupt along the way who had filed in or resigns, you postpone a day before elections, cancelled then the Electoral Commission announces in the next 30 days the next cycle. Another one, something happens, again you postpone. You can literally have an outstretched postponements beyond the term of office that is enshrined in the Constitution. That has nothing to do with the election date. The election date stays here, it will not be tempered. It is a dangerous, it is a potentially a costly provision because when one candidate comes out all the ballot papers which were printed wherever they are nullified. Again you have to print. A candidate can resign a day before, look at the logistics, again you print not only the outstretching of the period but even the cost. That is a danger, that is the ambiguity. You can go in a constitutional crisis.”
Hamududu said people can say, “can the President now step aside because the term has ended, the five years has ended”.
“Even the realities, these speakers are members of the ruling party. It’s the same thing. Let us be serious. Even in electoral terms it’s five years. What is supposed to happen, let me give you one of the suggestions here. You can say, in a party, I am the presidential candidate in the party and something happens and I am disqualified, the party must replace me and elections should be held because you are voting for a party not an individual. We are not here to vote for individuals, we are voting for institutions with manifestos. This one who is standing as a president is representing a party. It’s the party, it’s a party manifesto. It is party structures, it’s party management. You are just privileged to head it and therefore you can be replaced without postponing an election. So this one just requires cleaning up. To say if someone dies or is removed or there is corruption, you just replace but elections should not be postponed. It’s a clean up issue,” Hamududu said. “This was a drafting issue, it was not from the people. Someone did not read between the lines and implications of this. It’s a constitution, you have to open it up and clean it. So you put it as part of the amendments, go through the process and suggest how this can be cast. This talk which is partisan must stop. Let’s look at the issues. Have we become a failed country that cannot agree on anything even something like this? So Zambia has collapsed because of political interests than the national interests? Is this how low we have collapsed. You know I am very sad, is this how low we have collapsed that anything it’s politics? To do delimitation its politics. Is this how low we have collapsed as a country? Then we are a laughing stock. Let’s remove politics from this. Let’s look at the issues. These things benefit all sides. These are bipartisan issues. We must just mature. I am not partisan, I don’t do that. I believe in my country and before I supported this, I support now these amendments and I’ll support it tomorrow. It’s called consistency, its nothing to do with politics.”
Hamududu added that the country is retarding when it comes to development.
“We are retarding. That is why the constituencies where MPs are also ministers are also underrepresented because these people they are given other jobs. So they are MPs as well as ministers. So they have been stolen from the people to become ministers because when they were voted, they were not voted to come here and become ministers. They were voted to be MPs. When parliament goes on recess go back [to the constituencies]. They never go back, they are in the office. Kenya has done that, they now have a parliament that is united to hold the executive to account. There is no accountability in that House, this system is not working for us. How can you account to yourself?” he asked. “We need equity. It’s part of the constitutional demands that there must be equity in the distribution of resources and therefore, the current CDF and the architecture of constituencies, some constituencies are being underfunded but even before CDF is under … there is extreme need for delimitation …
Zambia even if we increase the number of seats to 200 we are still very economical because we are a unicameral (single chamber). We are still very economical relatively.”
Hamududu added that the delimitation process should be done before the next elections because there is underrepresentation of the people’s needs.
“It must be done before the next elections. Because of the CDF now, it has created a lot of inequality in terms of resources and not only that the main function of an MP is representation and if some constituencies are underrepresented there is an injustice. It’s inevitable that we do delimitation. It’s good for service delivery of our people. It is good for equity in the sharing of our resources. This is not politics. This is the reality of governance. Do you know what a by-election does? You deny thousands of children money to go to university. So that democracy is for what? To replace leaders and not to provide service? Democracy is a means to provide service, it’s not a game,” explained Hamududu. “If you are elected MP for Chama or Kaputa and you are appointed minister, technically you cease to be an MP because you no longer represent [them]. You are now working for the executive. Even in parliament, if you are MP for Chama and you are minister for infrastructure, you can’t stand in parliament and say the roads in Chama are bad. The Speaker will tell you to sit down. You cannot criticise yourself. You are the government.”